Field-Effect Transistors Made From Pybrid Perovskites

The remarkable crystalline materials may prove useful in many applications beyond solar cells

Valy Vardeny, distinguished professor of physics at the University of Utah. Photo Credit: University of Utah

The best hope for cheap, super-efficient solar power is a remarkable group of crystalline materials called hybrid perovskites. In just five years of development, organic-inorganic perovskite solar cells have attained power conversion efficiencies that took decades to achieve with the top-performing conventional materials used to generate electricity from sunlight.

In a scientific first, researchers at the University of Utah and Wake Forest University now have demonstrated that the materials can be used to make field-effect transistors operating at room temperature. The feat shows that hybrid perovskites have potential to be used in a great many optoelectronic applications beyond solar cells.